Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of Jeffrey Epstein, has informed the Justice Department that she did not witness Donald Trump behave in an inappropriate manner.
Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and accused accomplice of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, has denied any knowledge of sexually inappropriate interactions involving Donald Trump in an interview with the Justice Department.
Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for her 2021 conviction for luring underage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein, claimed that she was with Clinton on Epstein's plane around two dozen times but never witnessed any inappropriate behaviour.
The interview transcripts, released by the Justice Department, reveal that no person, including Maxwell, claimed to have witnessed sexually inappropriate interactions involving Trump; Maxwell herself denied seeing any inappropriate behavior by Trump during his visits to Epstein's residence.
Maxwell's trial featured sordid accounts of the sexual exploitation of girls as young as 14. Prosecutors presented evidence at the trial showing that Maxwell and Epstein both knew some victims were underage. However, Maxwell repeatedly denied any involvement in Epstein's conduct and claimed she never understood his preference for younger women.
Maxwell spoke glowingly of Britain's Prince Andrew and dismissed Virginia Giuffre's claim about her relationship with Andrew as "rubbish". She also stated that she had been to Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., sometimes alone, but hadn't seen Trump since the mid-2000s.
Maxwell's lawyers and the federal Bureau of Prisons have not explained the reason for her prison relocation from a low-security federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas. The FBI and Justice Department have also announced that a "client list" and additional documents from the high-profile investigation would not be suitable for release.
The Trump administration released the transcripts from the interview as part of an effort to present itself as transparent amid a backlash over its handling of evidence from the case. Trump sought to shut down questioning about Epstein at a White House Cabinet meeting and derided his supporters who were questioning the Epstein case as "weaklings".
In response to a subpoena from House lawmakers, the Justice Department has pledged to turn over information related to the case. Epstein was arrested in 2019 on sex-trafficking charges and was found dead in a New York jail cell a month later. Maxwell recalled knowing about Trump and possibly meeting him for the first time in 1990.
Maxwell's current whereabouts are unknown, and it is unclear if she is seeking a presidential pardon from Trump. However, she repeatedly praised Trump during the interview and denied observing him engaged in any form of sexual behavior.
